Hello everyone,
Welcome to this mindfulness meditation challenge.
The very common myth that I think many of you might have it,
So the myth is that meditation means I should have a quiet mind,
I should have an empty mind,
I should empty my mind of all the thoughts,
Okay?
So that's not meditation,
That's not the goal,
That's not the aim,
That's not the practice.
I can understand that your mind might have been very,
Very noisy,
You might have been dealing with overthinking and all of these things.
So firstly,
It's very much okay to have these thoughts because our mind has kind of its own to-do list and it keeps on reminding us,
Okay,
This is left,
We have to do this,
Focus on this and so on,
Right?
So it's okay to have any thought,
It can even be spiritual,
Thoughts are thoughts,
They are not good thoughts or bad thoughts.
So if your mind wandered,
It's okay,
When any of these thoughts come to you,
Then you can label it,
Like say thoughts in your mind and then come back to the breath,
That's it.
Because this is a part of reality and you acknowledge that reality and then you came back to where your focus was.
When we label it,
It becomes easier to not get sucked into the thoughts,
Into the story that mind is telling us.
And initially,
You might have to say it out loud in your mind,
Like thoughts,
But eventually,
There would be this awareness that my mind wandered and that would be enough.
So you would not have to say anything,
You would be able to recognize that my mind has wandered and you will be able to come back to it.
So either way is fine.
And to deal with thoughts,
One thing that you can do is before meditating,
Okay,
Before meditating,
Journal.
So like journal as in free flow.
So just write down every single thought that you're having,
You know,
Let your consciousness flow,
Whatever comes to you.
If nothing comes to you,
Just write down,
Okay,
I'm not,
Now I'm not thinking anything,
Okay,
I have to write,
I have to do this,
Like whatever comes to your mind,
Just keep on writing.
So maybe write one page of it,
And then sit down to meditate.
And I would advise you to do this,
Like on days,
Especially those days when you are facing a challenge,
When your mind is like,
Literally very,
Very busy.
On those days,
It might be of more help.
Because even if you sit down to meditate,
And you are not able to focus on the breath the whole time,
Then you would feel discouraged.
It's okay,
If you are not able to focus on it from mindfulness or from meditation perspective,
It's perfectly fine.
But just because I don't want you to feel discouraged that,
You know,
My practice was a waste or I'm not a good meditator and all of those doubts,
Okay,
So I don't want you to go into that cycle.
That's why I'm,
You know,
Giving you this tip that you can try journaling before,
Or just say this one line to your mind that after meditation,
I would address these thoughts,
And then you know,
The mind might go easy on you.
So this is just a few things that you can do if thoughts are like really,
Really bothering you,
Especially on some days.
So the thoughts that come into your mind while we are meditating,
We are not trying to get rid of them.
We are not trying to avoid anything,
We are not trying to suppress anything.
So when I ask you to come back to the breath,
We recognize that they were there.
So by labeling,
We recognize them,
We acknowledge that,
Okay,
This is present,
But my intention was not to focus on this.
Let's come back to this,
Right?
So we are responding intentionally.
And at the same time,
We notice what happens,
We acknowledge it,
We don't suppress our thoughts,
We don't suppress the sensation that comes up,
The emotion that comes up.
So we are not able to suppress anything,
We are not here to suppress anything that is a part of our present moment,
Or that is a part of our reality.
So yeah,
It's about meeting the reality,
It's about and whether that reality is not pleasant,
Then also we meet that reality.
Okay,
And yeah,
There is a way to not get consumed by it.
And mindfulness is that way,
It gives a distance from the thought,
From the sensation.
And you know,
As the subject,
The awareness,
So it creates a distance,
Because of which we are able to stay in that storm,
You know,
We are riding the wave,
We are aware,
We are observing it,
But we are not one with it.
So recognizing that our mind has wandered,
That is not a moment of failure,
Okay,
That is a moment of awakening,
You are aware at that moment,
Even if your whole practice you were thinking,
But maybe towards the end,
You become aware that I was thinking,
That is a moment of awareness,
That is a moment of awakening.
And that matters.
So that's the practice,
You know,
Wandering,
Coming back,
Wandering,
Coming back,
That's the practice itself.
And these thoughts or anything that arises,
They are not obstacles,
They are opportunities to practice mindfulness,
Even towards them.
Our aim in the meditation,
Or outside of the meditation is not to stop our thoughts.
It's actually to,
You know,
Create a space between ourselves and the thoughts and change our relationship with the thoughts.
Because thinking is a useful thing,
Right?
So yeah,
To change that relationship,
So we can use our thoughts when needed.
And they don't bother us or consume us when we don't need them,
Right?
But yes,
The lessening of the number of thoughts is a pleasant side effect of meditation.
It is not the aim,
But it is a nice side effect.
I hope that that myth is kind of busted from whatever I have said.
Okay,
So this session has come to an end.
So thank you so much everyone for tuning in,
Sending my love and healing to all of you.
